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On this day: May 7

2013: Ray Harryhausen, the animator, director and producer known for his stop-motion model animation technique, dies at age 92 in London, England. Some of Harryhausen's most memorable work can be seen in the movies "Mighty Joe Young," "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," "Jason and the Argonauts" and "Clash of the Titans."

2010: The superhero action sequel "Iron Man 2," starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Mickey Rourke and Scarlett Johansson, opens in theaters. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $623.9 million at the worldwide box office. It had the highest opening of any 2010 movie and finished as the year's third-highest grossing film.

2007: South of Jerusalem, Israeli archaeologists discover the tomb of Herod the Great, the Roman-era monarch also known as the "King of the Jews." The tomb contained a broken sarcophagus but no remains of a body.

2002: Seattle Slew, the American Thoroughbred race horse who won the Triple Crown in 1977, dies in his sleep at age 28. Seattle Slew was the 10th of 11 horses to accomplish the feat and remains the only horse to win the Triple Crown while undefeated.

2000: Vladimir Putin is inaugurated for his first term as president of Russia.

1998: Country music singer-songwriter Eddie Rabbitt, known for hits such as "I Love a Rainy Night," "Drivin' My Life Away," "Suspicions" and "Every Which Way but Loose," dies of lung cancer at the age of 56 in Nashville, Tenn. Rabbitt began his career by writing such hits as "Kentucky Rain" for Elvis Presley in 1970 and "Pure Love" for Ronnie Milsap in 1974.

1998: Mercedes-Benz announces plans to buy Chrysler for $40 billion and form DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.

1994: Edvard Munch's iconic painting "The Scream" is recovered undamaged after having been stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February. Four men were eventually convicted in connection with the theft, but were later released on an appeal thanks to a legal technicality.

1992: Michigan becomes the 38th state to ratify a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution, making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.

1992: The space shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission. The primary goal of its nine-day mission was to retrieve an Intelsat VI satellite, attach it to a new upper stage, and relaunch it to its intended geosynchronous orbit.

1987: Shelley Long, as Diane Chambers, makes her last appearance as a regular on the sitcom "Cheers." Long, who left the show to spend more time with her newborn child and focus on a movie career, would return for the series finale in 1993.

1977: The song "Hotel California" becomes the Eagles' fourth No. 1 single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.

1974: Actor Breckin Meyer, best known for movies such as "Clueless," "Road Trip" and "Garfield: The Movie," is born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

1968: Actress Traci Lords, who started in adult film before breaking through into the mainstream in television and B-movies, is born Nora Louise Kuzma in Steubenville, Ohio. Her post-porn roles include parts in the movies "Cry-Baby," "Serial Mom" and "Blade," the TV miniseries "The Tommyknockers" and recurring roles in the shows "Profiler," "Melrose Place" and "Roseanne."

1966: The Rolling Stones release the song "Paint It, Black." The single reached No. 1 on both the United States and the United Kingdom charts.

1954: Film director Amy Heckerling, best known for movies like "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," "National Lampoon's European Vacation," "Look Who's Talking" and "Clueless," is born in The Bronx, N.Y.

1952: The concept of the integrated circuit or microchip, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.

1951: Actor Warner Baxter, best known for his role as The Cisco Kid in the 1929 movie "In Old Arizona," for which he won the second Academy Award for Best Actor, dies of pneumonia at the age of 62 in Beverly Hills, Calif. Baxter got his start starring in silent films, including "The Great Gatsby" and "The Awful Truth," before transitioning to talkies, including "42nd Street," "Slave Ship" and "Kidnapped."

1950: Broadcast journalist and lawyer Tim Russert, who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of "Meet the Press," is born in Buffalo, N.Y. He died from sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 58 on June 13, 2008.

1946: Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, which would later be renamed Sony, is founded with around 20 employees.

1945: As a representative for German president Karl Dönitz, Gen. Alfred Jodl (center) signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in World War II. The document takes effect the next day. After the war, Jodl would be tried, sentenced to death and hanged as a war criminal at Nuremberg.

1942: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy planes launched from an aircraft carrier sink the Japanese Imperial Navy light aircraft carrier Sh?h?. The battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fought without visual contact between warring ships.

1940: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later. The debate, ostensibly on the progress of the Norwegian campaign during World War II, brought to a head widespread dissatisfaction with the existing government, led by Chamberlain, and its abilities to handle the challenges of the war.

1933: Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas, who won a Super Bowl and two NFL championships in a 18-year career, is born in Pittsburgh, Pa. Unitas, seen here signing an autograph in 1964, was the National Football League's most valuable player in 1959, 1964 and 1967, the first quarterback to throw for 40,000 career yards, the first to throw 30 touchdowns in a season and still holds the record of throwing a touchdown pass in 47 consecutive games.

1923: Actress Anne Baxter, best known for movies such as "The Magnificent Ambersons," "The Razor's Edge," "All About Eve" and "The Ten Commandments," is born in Michigan City, Ind. Baxter won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for "The Razor's Edge" and was also nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for "All About Eve." She died from a brain aneurysm on Dec. 12, 1985, at age 62.

1919: Eva Perón, Argentine first lady and the subject of the musical "Evita," is born Eva María Ibarguren in Los Toldos, Argentina. Perón, seen here in October 1951, would die from cervical cancer at age 33 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

1915: The German submarine U-20 sinks the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 people including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turned many formerly pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.

1901: Actor Gary Cooper, best known for movies such as "High Noon," "City Streets," "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town," "The Pride of the Yankees" and "Sergeant York," is born Frank James Cooper in Helena, Mont. Cooper received five Academy Award nominations for Best Actor, winning for "High Noon" and "Sergeant York." He died from prostate cancer on May 13, 1961, at age 60.

1840: Composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose works are among the most popular concert and theatrical music in the classical repertoire, is born in Votkinsk, Russian Empire.

1840: The Great Natchez Tornado touches down in eastern Louisiana and crosses the Mississippi River into Natchez, Miss., killing 317 people. The majority of deaths attributed to the tornado was from people on boats in the river. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.

1833: Composer Johannes Brahms, one of the giants of classical music whose works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire, is born in Hamburg, Germany.

1824: Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has its world premiere in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision.

1812: Robert Browning, one of the foremost Victorian poets best known for his two-volume "Men and Women" and the poem "The Ring and the Book," is born in London, England.

1429: Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning, wounded, to lead the French soldiers on a final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War between France and England.

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